Perhaps one of the most notable factors of this sage is the claim that he supposedly attained a divinization of the physical body. He attained a total of 3 transformations. His first transformation was the transformation of his normal human body into the Perfect Body, between the supposed attributes of this body are total invulnerability to everything thus rendering him effectively immortal and impervious to any kind of damage as well as having the attributes of being omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient this body is apparently made of Divine Light.

Beyond this state there was a subsequent transformation by which the Perfect Body transformed further into the Grace Body possessing the following attributes: This body have automatically a young appearance like that of a kid, can be seen but cant be touched, and has complete and absolute dominion over all the Siddhis.

Even beyond he State of the Grace Body supposedly there was a third and final transformation in which the Grace Body was transformed into the Bliss Body. This body is the body of the Supreme Godhead and is automatically omnipresent but cant be perceived by anyone.

By achieving this Ramalinga demonstrated that the ultimate states of spirituality can in fact be attained in this world with the physical body and death is not a necessity to experience the ultimate spiritual experience.

There's supposedly a few other traditions which have fruition (and practices) equivalent to rainbow body. Maybe someone else can elaborate but I remember a Taoist practice, and a Christian/Catholic practice was spoken of as well. I wouldn't be surprised if the same type of phenomena manifested for individuals of other traditions in rare cases. The fact that it's possible has to be an attribute which is universal to life in general, so if the right conditions and causes are met I don't see why not.

asunthatneversets wrote:There's supposedly a few other traditions which have fruition (and practices) equivalent to rainbow body. Maybe someone else can elaborate but I remember a Taoist practice, and a Christian/Catholic practice was spoken of as well. I wouldn't be surprised if the same type of phenomena manifested for individuals of other traditions in rare cases. The fact that it's possible has to be an attribute which is universal to life in general, so if the right conditions and causes are met I don't see why not.

I've heard there are different types of rainbow bodies. For example the one manifested by bon practice is different than the one manifested by dzogchen practice. If this is the case then the ones in Hindu, Taoist, or Christian traditions must also be different or this could just be a false assumption.

I could not care less but then it would be interesting to find the source saying that Bon Rainbow Body is different... I doubt one can find such a canonical reference. So there is certainly a mistake in this assertion.

"What is the All? Simply the eye & forms, ear & sounds, nose & aromas, tongue & flavors, body & tactile sensations, intellect & ideas. This, monks, is called the All. Anyone who would say, 'Repudiating this All, I will describe another,' if questioned on what exactly might be the grounds for his statement, would be unable to explain, and furthermore, would be put to grief. Why? Because it lies beyond range." Sabba Sutta.

Who talks about achievement? Rainbow Body is a sign.
I'm merely pointing the fact that someone saying the Rainbow Body in Bon is different from that of other Dzogchen (Nyingma) lineages is wrong. There's no difference.
Such a person is propagating a mistake. If he has sources for his assertions, he should provide references, not hearsay.

Right. Since it's not an achievement in the conventional / causal sense then there would be no difference.

The Blessed One said:

"What is the All? Simply the eye & forms, ear & sounds, nose & aromas, tongue & flavors, body & tactile sensations, intellect & ideas. This, monks, is called the All. Anyone who would say, 'Repudiating this All, I will describe another,' if questioned on what exactly might be the grounds for his statement, would be unable to explain, and furthermore, would be put to grief. Why? Because it lies beyond range." Sabba Sutta.